The Next Chapter
by Fangirl21
Summary: After Wish You Were Eyre. Zach hasn't taken his breakup with Cassidy well and vows to get her back, so Cassidy is once again pulled between Zach and Tristan. Meanwhile, Darcy has been partying it up at Dartmouth, putting a strain on his relationship with Jess. With each girl having their own problems along with their families, will the girls ever make it through their junior year?
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: Hi guys! I know that not a lot of people are in this fandom, but whatever. I was really unhappy with the way the last book ended, because I really thought Cassidy should have ended up with Zach instead. So basically, I'm just writing the next book. About that, I was wondering, do you guys want me to only follow Cassidy/Tristan/Zach's story, or do you guys want me to follow everyone's stories? Also, this is just the prologue, so that's why this is in third person. I KNOW. Super long author's note. I'm sorry. You receive ten cyber cookies. Also, I'm not really sure what book to make them read, because the only classics I've read, they've already covered, so would you guys mind if I made them read something like, I don't know, Harry Potter? PLEASE REVIEW GUYS. I NEED TO KNOW WHAT YOU GUYS WANT. Anyways, enjoy! 3 **

-Prologue-

To say Zach was steamed would be an understatement. He was beyond pissed, beyond furious. Cassidy Sloane had just dumped him in his own car because of someone else. Driving at an insane speed, Zach swerved to the left to avoid hitting a car which honked continuously at him.

"Go fuck yourself you piece of shit," Zach growled, looking in the rearview mirror at the car that was honking at him. He had never felt his blood pounding so much, or so angry. His face was flushed as he drove towards Third's house. Third's older brother who was a senior was having a party, and Zach had originally planned on taking Cassidy too. He knew she would have loved it; she had been going on non-stop about wanting to go to a party now that hockey season was over and her team had won the nationals.

Finally getting there, Zach slammed on the brakes and turned the car off. Closing his eyes, he tried to calm down and slow his heartbeat. He couldn't go into that party angry, because he would probably end up starting a fight while drunk.

_That's not good for your health, Zach. How are you going to keep in shape for hockey?_ Cassidy's reaction to finding out Zach drunk suddenly flashed through his head, and he swore and slammed his fist on the steering wheel. Closing his eyes, all he could see Cassidy's bright red hair and dancing gray eyes and her pretty mouth turned upwards into a large smile.

Zach made a strangled noise. He had liked her for years. _Years._ And now they had finally started dating, but she had to go and dump him. Because of someone else. Zach cursed again at this. He was getting Cassidy Sloane back if it was the last thing he did damnit, because he was Gilbert Blythe and she was his Anne Shirley.

* * *

Zach swung his head back and chugged the rest of his beer down. Feeling properly good and drunk now, Zach moved in towards the swarm of bodies in the middle of Third's house. His parents were gone for the weekend, and Third's older brother was throwing a kickass party. Zach grinned wildly when Joe -Third's older brother (although people did wonder how he ended up with such an ordinary name compared to Third's) - passed by.

"Awesome party, dude!" Zach yelled, waving his arm wildly.

Joe nodded back and yelled "Thanks, bro! Where's your chick?"

At this Zach's face darkened. Instead of responding, he turned around and made his way to the center of the throbbing crowd. Instantly, he was surrounded by girls, all of them falling over themselves to talk to him.

Smirking, he just thought of nothing of being spiteful to Cassidy, and to show he didn't need her. "No need to fight, ladies. There's plenty to go around."

Soon enough, all Zach could hear was the blasting music, and all he could feel was the two girls in front and behind him. Vision blurry, he had no clue which girls he was dancing with, but he did know that he felt good again. He didn't feel that miserable heartache he had before.

"Zachy," a high pitched voice said, but Zach couldn't make out any noise or sight clearly, so he was a bit startled when someone's mouth plastered against his. He responded with enthusiasm, though, and the two of them started making out right there.

After a few more hours of dancing and drinking and making out with random girls, Zach stumbled upstairs and into Third's bedroom. He knew this was the only place that no party people were allowed in, so it would be safe to crash there tonight. Because as drunk as he was, Zach Norton knew better than to drive under the influence.

Lying on the rug, Zach closed his eyes and dreamed of nothing but long red hair and two gray eyes shining up at him.

* * *

"Dude," Third said in a disgusted voice. Prodding Zach with his foot, he said again "Dude. Wake up. It's like 3 in the afternoon."

Zach rolled over and groaned. His head was throbbing and for some reason his heart felt really heavy. "Third?" he asked groggily.

"Yes, it's me, you idiot. Now get out of my room. Your parents are probably looking for you," Third said, sighing. Nudging Zach with his foot again, Third just sighed and left. Zach wouldn't get up until he wanted to.

Zach slowly sat up and yawned. His head was killing it. Maybe he could get Cassidy to- at this thought Zach's eyes narrowed. _Cassidy._ That's why he felt so awful. Not just because of his hangover. Zach felt the same rush of anger and sadness wash over him. Angry at the person who stole Cassidy from him but angrier at himself for letting it happen. Where did he go wrong?

Zach just shook his head. He needed to clear up his head. Think of a game plan. "Alright," Zach whispered. "Let's do this."

Standing up, Zach fished out his cell phone from his jeans and called his mom. "Hey mom. Yeah, I slept over at Third's. I know, I know, I'm sorry. Okay. I'll be home for dinner, okay? Alright, bye."

Zach slipped his phone back into his jeans and marched out of the room. Passing Third on his way out, he ignored Third's questioning look.

"Where are you going, man?" Third asked, raising his eyebrows.

"The rink. I need to clear up my head," Zach said gruffly. Third nodded understandingly and waved goodbye. "See ya later," Zach said.

Zach sighed as he pulled on his skates. There was nothing that cleared his mind as well as just skating. Right now he just needed to calm down and not think of Cassidy. Skating onto the ice, Zach circled around a few times before stopping in the center. Despite the fact he was trying not to think of the redhead, he smiled a little as he thought of how Cassidy basically lived here. This was progress, he thought. He could smile about something to do with his ex-girlfriend.

"Tristan, stop!" came a laugh, and Zach spun around at the sound. He would know that voice anywhere. Two people were racing around the corner but came to a screeching stop when they saw Zach.

Zach thought he would be sick. Cassidy was holding Tristan's hand and Cassidy had been laughing like she hadn't with Zach for a long time. When she saw him, Zach could see a sudden turmoil inside her, her gray eyes holding sadness and happiness, confusion and excitement, and most of all, regret.

"Zach," she breathed. He just stared at her, taking in her messy hair and smeared lip gloss. Slowly turning towards Tristan, he was disgusted to see lip gloss smeared on his mouth and on his cheek. Right then, all Zach's anger came rushing back. This _ice princess_ was the one who stole Cassidy from him? And had Cassidy really moved on so quickly? Trying not to let any of his hurt show, Zach turned to Cassidy.

"Cassidy," he said coolly. Ignoring Tristan, he glared at the redhead. "I see you've moved on already."

Cassidy turned beet red and slipped her hand out of Tristan's. She stepped forward and opened her mouth, but then shut it again, her eyes flickering towards Tristan.

"What are you talking about?" Tristan asked, frowning. Zach's eyebrows shot up, and despite himself, felt even more hurt. She hadn't even told Tristan _anything _about them dating?

He opened his mouth to tell him exactly what, but one glance at Cassidy made him pause. She was looking at him beseechingly, her gray eyes begging him not to tell. Zach took her in; all prettied up with mascara and lip gloss. She looked beautiful. Sighing, Zach nodded slightly at Cassidy and gave her the teensiest of bitter smiles before turning and skating away. He needed to leave right now.

"Wait! Don't turn your back on me! I asked you a question," Tristan yelled behind him. Clearly Tristan wasn't too happy about being out of the loop.

At this Zach paused. Who the hell did this guy think he was? No one could boss Zach Norton around. "Excuse me?" Zach finally said coldly, turning around.

"Tristan, no!" Cassidy said, tugging on the British boy's arm. He shook her off and resumed glaring at Zach.

"What were you talking about with my girlfriend?" Tristan demanded. At this, Cassidy's cheeks turned pink and she looked anywhere but at Zach.

Anger filling him once again, Zach snapped. "Well why don't you ask your little girlfriend then? I'm sure she knows exactly what I'm talking about." Turning around, Zach stalked out of the rink but he felt a hand on his shoulder spin him around.

"I asked you a question," Tristan said dangerously. He was exactly the same height as Zach, so the two of them looked eye to eye, trying to stare each other down.

"Tristan, leave Zach alone!" Cassidy cried, and she wedged herself in between both guys and pushed them apart. She glared at Tristan. "Don't be mean."

"See ya later, Sloane," Zach said, but suddenly a fist smashed into his face, and Zach stumbled backwards. Zach had never been so angry in his life. Blood dripped from his nose as he tried to wipe it off, but Zach knew better than to retaliate. He could get expelled for fighting, but most of all, he did not want to sink down to that idiot's level in front of Cassidy.

"Tristan. Get. Out. _Now_," came Cassidy's voice, holding cold fury. She moved in front of Zach and glared at Tristan until he stalked out of the room angrily. Then she slowly turned around to face Zach. Tears actually sprung to her eyes as she looked at Zach. "I'm so sorry," she whispered, trying to calm down.

Zach just slowly reached up and tucked a lock of her fiery red hair behind her ear. Letting his fingers trail down the side of her cheek, Zach made no attempt to wipe off the streaks of blood his fingers were leaving on her face.

"Don't be," he whispered, and to his enormous embarrassment, he felt his own eyes start to get glassy. "I'll miss you." Zach then turned around and left, leaving Cassidy standing there in the middle of the rink. He needed to get home.

Ten minutes later, drumming his fingers on the steering wheel, Zach thought over what just happened. That stupid ice princess was obviously the one who was trying to steal Cassidy. Angrily swerving to avoid road kill, Zach looked up to see a truck coming straight towards him, and the last thing he saw was a flash of light, and then all went dark.


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: Thanks for the feedback guys! And I'd like to especially thank **mdbc fan. **I really appreciated all of your comments. And I felt rather bad for calling Tristan a you-know-what so I went ahead and changed it to idiot. But don't give up hope! That was just ZACH's point of view, and of course he was going to be pissed off! Fear not. There will be plenty of Tristan/Cassidy fluff and all throughout. And yes, I know, I do rather like Tristan and Cassidy together and all, and they would be perfect for each other if Zach didn't exist, but he does, so that just complicates things. ANYWAYS, thank you so much for all your reviews. Do you have an actual ff account? That way I could just PM you instead of making all of my other readers suffer through reading this whole thing. Also, I'd also like to thank **Guest **for reviewing. While I would love to make them read the book you suggested, unfortunately I haven't read it and I don't have much free time these days because of school. So I'm thinking that his story will just take place over summer or something where book club is temporarily over. I don't know. I'll figure something out. And for anyone who actually read this whole thing, you deserve two dozen cyber cookies. With lots of chocolate chips. SO, if anyone else has a suggestion, feel free to leave me a comment or PM me. Thanks! **

**Love,**

**Fangirl21**


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: Hey guys! **

**I KNOW. YOU HATE MY GUTS. "WHY HAVE I NOT UPLOADED A NEW CHAPTER YET?" YOU DEMAND TO KNOW FURIOUSLY.**

**Welllll…..I'm really sorry, and you guys will be pretty pissed, but I have to admit something. I honestly have neither the time nor the passion anymore to write this whole story. I'm sorry! *cowers***

**BUT. There is good news. I plan on making a series of one-shots about the series, and you guys can give me any request you want, and I'll do it. I don't care if you want me to write a Cassidy/Tristan or Cassidy/Zach or Cassidy/Tree fanfic, I'll do it. Soo, you guys have two weeks to PM or comment right here what pairing or story you want. No more than three ideas per person please! **

******ALSO, GUYS I'M A BETA NOW. I AM TOTALLY WILLING TO BE ANYONE'S BETA, NO MATTER WHAT FANDOM, PAIRING, OR RATING.**

**Thanks, guys! I love all of you. YOU 'RE THE BEST REVIEWERS EVER! *hugs*  
**

**-Fangirl21**


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